Dog and master escape blaze

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A man and his dog escaped unscathed from a serious house fire in Mataura yesterday after a smoke alarm alerted them to the blaze.

Mataura station officer Mark Witham said a man had been mowing his lawn, in Albion St, when the smoke alarm went off.

After entering the house through the back door, the man discovered a fire, which appeared to have started in the laundry, grabbed his dog and left, Mr Witham said. Both the man and his dog were uninjured.

The blaze, which Mr Witham described as very serious, caused significant damage to the roof and back end of the property.

By the time firefighters arrived the house was well alight, he said.

"The south end [of the house] is pretty much gone; there would be a lot of heat in the fire. He had working smoke alarms, which alerted him to it, so that's good."

Nearby resident Yvonne Cowan, who didn't see the fire, said the smoke from the fire was visible from her house around the corner.

"We saw a whole lot of black smoke so we came to see what was happening," she said.